Common Science

Max Cooper has created numerous tracks inspired by biology, pulling on his own PhD background to hone his electronic sound. His tracks always clicks with me. There's a connection with biology in his composition that reminds me of symmetries and fractals occurring in nature.  This track in particular has a confident, precise sound with a baseline that grows and changes unnoticeably, in juxtaposition to the major transformations taking place in the treble... Similar to a growing organism under close examination. Congrats to Kevin McGloughlin for producing a video to match the sounds! 👏

During a conversation with friends I realised I needed a better understanding of seasonal flu viruses, and how or if Swine Flu and Bird Flu are seasonal, whether there are other seasonal influenza viruses, and what protection the flu vaccine provides, as, we were all just guessing answers to these points! I couldn't readily find all of the answers online in one place, so I've pieced together information from various sources and created some comparison tables covering the more widely discussed swine, avian and seasonal influenza viruses. This post is by no means supposed to be a comprehensive review of each virus, but an overview to give readers a better understanding of seasonal flu, the viruses that cause it, and the flu vaccine. Feel free to comment with any questions or corrections, all pertinent information is referenced, the majority of which came from various pages of the World Health Organisation’s and CDC's website, alongside data from several recent publicati...

Jon Hopkins' ambient, relaxing titular track from his album, Immunity.

The re-emergence of diseases that were thought to be part of our history, defeated by immunisation, and hoped to be found only in category 4 labs deep underground and textbooks, are now increasingly common in headlines covering new epidemics. Of current popular concern is Measles, the virus not to be confused with German Measles nor Rubella, which prior to a vaccintation program beginning in 1963, killed 2.6M people annually [1]. In 2018 more than 140,000 people died from the virus [1], an incredible decrease since the 1960s but this number has been increasing. Image: Measles Virus Micrograph The reason for the rise in measles cases is not only because of the recent fall-off in immunisation program uptake, thanks to baseless claims linking autism with the combination vaccine, MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella), but also because of the virulence of the virus. Measles is the most infectious virus known to the human race, and before vaccination programs were in effect, infect...

As an academic working within a research institute there are often talks by various high profile individuals (many of whom I should probably be writing about!), however this week's lecturer within a seminar series revolving around bench-to-bedsite 'translational' medicine was given by Ben Goldacre. Ben's latest campaign has been for the release of clinical trials data. Especially from trials where an end point hasn't been reached, i.e. letting negative trial data see the light of day. In fact it's not actually the public that really matter regarding this disclosure, rather the clinicians running new trials, often using novel drugs with similar modes-of-action and pharmacokinetics to those in previous failed trials. This openness has the ability to not only save a lot of time and money but importantly reduce the risk to those brave enough to partake in phase 1 clinical studies. TGN1412 Trial  An incredibly grim example Ben provided was for the much publi...

I was recently asked about the surveillance system present within immunity which operates to kill virally infected cells by lack of MHC expression, and why this same system doesn't destroy red blood cells (RBC), which lack MHC. One function of Natural Killer (NK) cells is to destroy cells infected by viruses, which have a mechanism of evading T-cell killing by down-regulating MHC class I expression. MHC class I molecules are expressed on every cell in the body apart from RBCs; a lack of expression is detected by NK cells which act to destroy the cell. However, RBC remain unharmed. SEM of NK cells Red Blood Cells                         V.S Like everyone else I assumed the almighty google would provide me with the answer to my friends question, so I typed in my query and the only relevant link was to a 'yahoo answers' page, which answered a succinctly phrased question whi...

In a moment of rare foresight I decided to spend my 1 hour waiting for a connecting train at Euston station, visiting the latest exhibition on brains at the Wellcome collection . Previously I'd visited the exhibition on skin (unsurprisingly named SKIN ), which served up the right amount of visual and mental stimulation. This latest exhibition proved to be as interesting, but didn't live up to my own hype after the last visit. Security staff greeted me with the deferential smile of 'I'm just doing my job mate', as they politely searched my bag. After being established as benign, I entered through glass doors to be welcomed by an aptly simple title for the show: BRAINS. The familiar blurb preceeding the exhibition provided a précis and rationale for the show. The latter, as you can imagine, was due to a lack of understanding by the public and the obvious importance of the brain. I particularly enjoyed the boldness of the neuroscientists sentiment - to prove that per...

Novocaine, the commercial name for the anaesthetic Procain, has been sung about continually within the 20th century, from Alice Cooper and Bon Jovi, to Modest Mouse and King's of Leon. My favourite testament to the drug is by the UK's Eels, enjoy!

One of the most pressing needs in organ transplantation is the availbility of matched donor material - what this 'matching' specifically means is explained below. Mis-matching of donors and rejection of organs unfortunately happens quite often, and recipients require life long immunosuppressents to dampen the ensuing rejection, or in severe cases a new transplant. The reality and severity of donor mis-matching was clarified recently when  I saw an image of a patient with graft vs host disease (GVHD). In this setting it is the transplanted donor material which attacks/rejects the recipient, rather than the recipient rejecting the donor organ. Previously I had been taught about whole organ GVHD, whereby the transplanted organ harbours immune cells capable of attacking the recipient. This is especially serious when the transplant recipient is immunocompromised. However, the more serious aspect of this disease occurs in patients who...

Solid drawing skills, and only 5 likes on youtube!

Having attended a lecture about the potential benefits of peptide therapy for controlling aberrant immune responses, I was interested to hear about how a radical therapy for curbing allergies could be employed in this treatment. The lecture focused upon peptide immunotherapy as a treatment for curing autoimmunity (i.e. the host immune system attacking itself), this works by providing the individuals immune system with a piece of protein targeted by the response which switches off the destructive process. This mechanism of ignoring self is known broadly as tolerance, in healthy individuals the process of tolerance is successful and occurs around birth, whereas in individuals with autoimmunity 'something' goes wrong. Chinese bee beard competitor People with an autoimmune disease targeting a self protein - like insulin in type 1 diabetes, which results in destruction of beta-cells - have immune cells which have esca...

Viruses: Friend and Foe A sniffle and a sneeze, maybe some vomit on the pillow and a seemingly innocuous fever. Or, a pool of blood haemorrhaged from your precious organs.  Waking up with any of these symptoms is going to put a crimp on your day, most notably the latter, but all of these are potentially caused by viral infections. However not all viruses offer up such conclusive evidence to their presence, and why do their symptoms range from the benign to the sensational? Take for example HIV, which has two common strains in humans: HIV-1 and HIV-2. Untreated HIV-1 eventually leads to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), whereas HIV-2 does not have the same devastating impact on the immune system, fulfilling the role of a quiet “keeps themselves to themselves” lodger. Even HIV-1 will not progress to AIDS for up to 20 years in some infected individuals. Charles Darwin, the veritable godfather of evolution based his hypothesis on fossilised bones of animal and plants, but th...

A friend unfortunately told me one of his family had been diagnosed with this rare disease and that there was no detailed information whatsoever on-line. This lead me to create my first  Wikipedia entry about HUV . When I was doing this I realised how vital Wikipedia is. I could have just emailed my review of some literature on the disease to my friend but by using Wiki other contributors can correct any mistakes and add more information as research continues into this intriguing autoimmune disorder.

Smash your staircases and head to the nearest oil rig, the dead walk. I came across this recent article on a fungus ( Ophiocordyceps unilateralis ) which infects it's carpenter ant victims turning them into the living dead. The fungus takes over the ant's nervous system, infecting muscle and brain tissue giving the ant a "stumbling" gait. The parasitic fungus controls the ant to seek out a certain type of leaf, once there the fungal controller instructs the ant to bite down hard with it's mandibles (known as "the death grip"). Once securely fastened to the leaf the ant finally dies, and the fungus sprouts a long fruiting body (stick-like) with a spore loaded pod. More fungal spores are then released to go on and infect the next carpenter ant victim. Scary stuff... A reference to the original paper can be found here  http://earthsky.org/biodiversity/fungus-turns-tropical-carpenter-ants-into-the-walking-dead

ANTIBODIES - Poni Hoax... Never heard much else from them again sadly. Poni Hoax - Antibodies - music video directed by Danakil from Cyrille de Vignemont aka Danakil on Vimeo .

Following on from my visit to the Huntarian museum in London, which documented anatomical specimens in innumerable jars, I visited the German equivalent in Berlin - The Medizinhistorisches Museum on Charite University campus. As expected from the guide books and hype from my Deutsch colleagues, the exhibit is truly fascinating with some morbid sections which warrant the over 16s certification. It is these specimens that are naturally off-putting to some (as evolution dictates innate disgust at abnormality) which are incredibly fascinating documents of life trying to survive regardless of aberrant genetics. Naturally one feels a sadness when viewing some specimens, especially due to the young age of the subject, but regardless, scientific intrigue overrides in this astounding museum. In a section of the museum devoted to eminent German scientists I read about Rudolf Virchow, and whilst reading the short summary next to a compilation of his belongings in a cabinet, ...

A select number of images highlighting natures most interesting looking minature creatures. From top left clockwise: a dust mite; a fly; a spider's spigot (web maker); a wasp's sting; the head of a flea; a red blood cell, platelet and leukocyte (white blood cell), and...... a maggot's face! The comedic/evil looking maggot's face, and the sinister dust mite whose alien appearance sums up it's single minded harvesting of our flakes of skin are favourites. These images were taken using an electron microscope, where focusing a beam of electrons rather than photons (light particles) enables high resolution (detail) at very high magnification.

Can you say cringe....

Recently whilst drinking in a pub near Holborn station, I realised I was near a museum I'd wanted to visit since I first moved to London. So with some great persuasive efforts I managed to entice my friends away from the warmth and comfort of an open fire and pint of ale to walk to the royal college of surgeons. In the basement of which is the Huntarian musuem, a collection of anatomical specimens either partially dissected to showcase the intricacies of the body, or exhibited to highlight interesting examples of errant homeostatic processes. Entering John Hunters massive collection, one is instantly staged by the array of formaldehyde filled jars, and instantly the curiousty and "where to start first" sensation takes over. I thought you could take pictures, but after one I was instantly chastised, here it is though (not the best example of the diverse array of anatomical specimens - so there's a website pic below as well) A brief aside to overview who John...

I've recently been to Japan and whilst there came across one scary looking spider. An Australian girl helpfully informed me that it was called a Golden Orb spider, however she didn't supply me with the information as to whether it could kill me or not. Judging by the vivid "I will kill you" colouring I decided to keep my distance. The only problem was the sheer density of them in this small Japanese forest garden I'd visited. Added to this, they produced their orb shaped webs in trees and annoyingly always around head height, I therefore found myself flushed with panic whenever I turned. Lest to say I never made it to the Coi Carp lake in the midst of the forest. Later when I returned to the UK I researched my curious East Asian arachnoid and found out that they do contain some venom (as apparently to my ignorance all spiders do), but that it was relatively harmless to vertebrates. However, if anyone is reading this for information due to a search on "Orb ...